My wife had a birthday this past weekend. Ordinarily, this fact would come and go on an annual basis without incident. A couple of presents, a nice dinner, a card with a few phrases, such as “you complete me” or “our eternal love” or my favorite “I would be lost without you,” and we go to bed and do the whole thing again in 365 days. This year was a little different. I always have a hard time finding a gift for her when her birthday falls two weeks after Christmas. I have a hard enough time figuring out what her Christmas present is going to be and then I have to come up with new ideas all over again. This year I was thankful when I heard her say, “I know exactly what I want for my birthday!” My excitement was short lived when the next sentence came out of her mouth. “I want a treadmill.”Now, I’m not the smartest guy around, but I’m pretty sure buying exercise equipment for your wife on her birthday is somewhere on the level of other thoughtful gifts like cooking classes, vacuums and gym memberships. I was convinced that I had found myself caught squarely in the trap. Those of you who are married men know exactly which trap I’m talking about. This trap is much like attempting to answer questions like, “Do I look fat in these jeans?” or “If I died would you re-marry?” I instantly decided that there was no chance of me buying her a treadmill for her birthday.

So, on the birthday, I come up with a closet organizer and a bottle of sub-zero windshield washer with bug cleaner and a card with a dead clown on the front (it was a very funny card). She took one look at the gifts, I volunteered to organize her closet for her and she faked a smile for a couple of seconds and then went immediately to the treadmill store and bought her own treadmill that I happily assembled on her return.

The world as we know it has changed: aside from the fact that it is now O.K. to buy exercise equipment for your wife on her birthday (especially if she asks for it); the business world is also dramatically different today. I read recently that computer technology completely turns over every two years. This means that everything college freshman and sophomores are learning today will be obsolete by the time they graduate and get a job. Successful businesses today have a model that is very different from anything that could have ever been defined as conventional wisdom. The companies that are thriving in our economy in any industry are the ones who are innovators and trailblazers – people who adapt the products and services that they provide to their customers. Successful business leaders today have been able to identify ways of helping their customers by providing a new product or a new service that saves and/or makes everybody money. Some companies, however, are an expert at conventional wisdom. They are absolutely solid in doing things the same way they have done them for the past 50 years … and they are going bankrupt.

I believe that the number one most important factor in growing your sales is the attitude of your salespeople. The salespeople who are excited and who love their jobs are the ones who will bring you new customers. These new customers will bring you new opportunities to expand the products and services that you offer which will energize your support staff. An excited support staff and sales team in a company that is continually adding new things to the mix will excite your customers and attract even more customers and then more products and then more excitement.

Of course, the hardest part of this equation is creating excitement in your salespeople who have been watching their income free fall. Maybe an even harder part is creating excitement in yourself while your sales continue to decline, but it must happen … somehow, someway. The choice here is simple: buy the treadmill, run as fast as you can and hope to stay on it, or take to the streets and explore new trails and new neighborhoods; just make sure you ask your wife first.